On paper, Will Hall's hiring made sense. He was a local guy with heavy Mississippi ties and successful head coach experience.
Off the field, the program saw progress, but for whatever reason, it didn't translate to wins, as Hall was fired on Sunday night. It's a failure that Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain says has kept him up at night.
"It's something that I've asked myself a lot over the past year," said McClain in a press conference on Monday. "In a lot of ways, you think it should have (worked). I've certainly stayed awake at night thinking that a lot. I will tell you winning football games is hard. Getting it just right is hard. Sometimes, it's the little things that you miss that can end up having a huge impact.
"I think it's really hard to get it just right, and there were probably some things that we just missed on and had a ripple effect that didn't allow us to be successful on the field."
Now, Southern Miss will begin a search for its next head coach with the goal of finding its next one by the end of November, which is just before the early signing period and opening of the transfer portal.
WHY NOW?
The fan base was adamant that Hall be fired after the 44-7 loss to Jacksonville State earlier in the season, especially with the program's first bye week approaching.
However, the 44-28 homecoming loss to Arkansas State solidified Southern Miss' third 1-6 start in the last four years and an 0-3 record to Sun Belt play.
"We got to a point in the season where it was time to do something different," McClain said. "Will has done a lot of good things for this program. He has put us in a great position culture-wise. He has recruited well. Academics, we cleaned up some things that we needed to clean up there. The next football coach will benefit from the work that has been done over the last few years."
Assistant coach and general manager Reed Stringer will take over as interim coach.
"Reed is someone who is well respected throughout this building," McClain said. "He has a ton of experience at multiple institutions at multiple roles. He is someone that we feel very confident in and can lead us through the rest of this season. He is someone who has a relationship with all the players on this roster just because of his role as an assistant head coach and general manager. It also allows us to let our position coaches do their jobs."
Hall had one year left on his contract will be guaranteed the rest of his buyout, which McClain said will not have an impact on the athletic department.
"We'll pay that out per the terms of the contract," McClain said. "We will be able to handle that the way we handle everything else, which is by securing funds that are done in a way that won't impact us negatively. We've got a plan to do that."
WHAT'S NEXT?
In his last search in 2020, McClain had previously looked for someone with head coaching experience and had ties to the region, but that mold has since changed. McClain's top priorities have shifted toward someone who can navigate NIL and the transfer portal.
"I think the profile is wide open," McClain said. "I think you have to have someone that can manage the portal and manage NIL. You have to be able to hire the right people. You have to do more things than you ever had to do. You want someone that has had some experience in doing those things or has the capacity to do it."
McClain also said having ties to the region is not a credential that will be sought out in this upcoming search.
"It's on the list, but it's not at the top," McClain said. "That's the way I'll frame it. It adds to that if a candidate has connections. I think recruiting is always relationship-based. It doesn't mean that someone outside of the area can't come in and create those relationships. It will be on my list as something to consider, but it will not be at the top of the list."
Southern Miss will be using a search firm that will help both find and narrow down the list of candidates as well as aid in administrative duties.
"They will certainly bring candidates to us," McClain said. "They will help us create profiles. They will help us kind of weed through some things. There is a lot of work that's done in the back end.
"It really is an assist in the search process. They don't make the hire. They don't suggest who you hire."
Despite the lack of success on the field, McClain still believes that Southern Miss can have immediate success as a program and get prime candidates for the job.
"I'm not going to have to pitch this to anyone," said McClain when asked how he would pitch the job to potential candidates. "I want to make that clear. There will be a lot of good coaches interested in this job. When I got here in 2019, we were probably at the bottom of the league in what we were paying out assistant coaches. We are now in the top third in what we pay our assistant coaches.
"I think as I sit down with coaches, I don't think I'll have to pitch it, I think the sell is that we are in a great football league. We are in a great position from a culture standpoint. We have recruited well. We have a great group of younger guys in that locker room with bright futures. We are in a great place, and if you come in and took the keys to this program, there is a chance of success pretty quickly."
Follow @AndrewAbadie on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for Southern Miss coverage.
